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* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}:'' [[PersonOfMassDestruction BG9]] is willing to ask someone a question three times before changing the format of the question (read: resorting to violence or psychological torture) to get what he wants.
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* ''Manga/{{Claudine}}'': Claude falls deeply love with three different women throughout his life.
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** Three great powers: the Marines/World Government, the Shichibukai, and the Yonkou. [[spoiler:after the Levely, the Shichibukai are abolished and set to be replaced by the SSG.]]
to:
** Three great powers: the Marines/World Government, the Shichibukai, and the Yonkou. [[spoiler:after [[spoiler:After the Levely, the Shichibukai are abolished and set to be eventually replaced by the SSG.]]
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* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'': The ''third'' [[spoiler:Endless Eight episode]] has Itsuki state that [[spoiler:"We have entered an endless recursion of time."]] three times in a row.
to:
* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'': ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'': The ''third'' [[spoiler:Endless Eight episode]] has Itsuki state that [[spoiler:"We have entered an endless recursion of time."]] three times in a row.
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** According to ''LightNovel/PocketMonstersTheAnimation'', if a gym leader loses three times in a row they are forced to quit. This causes many gym leaders to bribe trainers in order to lose.
to:
** According to ''LightNovel/PocketMonstersTheAnimation'', ''Literature/PocketMonstersTheAnimation'', if a gym leader loses three times in a row they are forced to quit. This causes many gym leaders to bribe trainers in order to lose.
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** Three great powers: the Marines/World Government, the Shichibukai, and the Yonkou. [[spoiler:after the Levely, the Shichibukai are abolished and are replaced by the SSG.]]
to:
** Three great powers: the Marines/World Government, the Shichibukai, and the Yonkou. [[spoiler:after the Levely, the Shichibukai are abolished and are set to be replaced by the SSG.]]
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** There are three marine admirals: Akainu, Aojiki, and Kizaru.
** Three great powers: the Marines/World Government, the Shichibukai, and the Yonkou.
** Three great powers: the Marines/World Government, the Shichibukai, and the Yonkou.
to:
** There are three marine admirals: Admirals: Akainu, Aojiki, and Kizaru.
Kizaru. [[spoiler:During the timeskip, with Akainu's promotion and Aokiji's resignation, Fujitora and Ryokugyu are drafted as new Admirals.]]
** Three great powers: the Marines/World Government, the Shichibukai, and the Yonkou. [[spoiler:after the Levely, the Shichibukai are abolished and are replaced by the SSG.]]
** Three great powers: the Marines/World Government, the Shichibukai, and the Yonkou. [[spoiler:after the Levely, the Shichibukai are abolished and are replaced by the SSG.]]
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Misuse. Fails the requirements for Expy
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** ''[[Anime/YuGiOhGX GX]]'' even has three Kaiba {{exp|y}}ies.
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** Subverted as though there seem to be three Phantom Beasts, they have their fusion form. And three Wicked Gods. And the English manga was published as three series (Manga/YuGiOh for the first seven volumes, Manga/YuGiOh Duelist for Duelist Kingdom onward, and Manga/YuGiOh Millennium World, following the Duel City finals).
to:
** Subverted as though there seem to be three Phantom Beasts, they have their fusion form. And three Wicked Gods. And the English manga [[Manga/YuGiOh manga]] was published as three series (Manga/YuGiOh for the first seven volumes, Manga/YuGiOh Duelist for Duelist Kingdom onward, and Manga/YuGiOh Millennium World, following the Duel City finals).
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YMMV
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* Big 3: A FanNickname about the three most popular manga from Weekly Shonen Jump.
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----
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* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'':
** There is the three-man team that is ubiquitous in the ninja world, affecting everyone from the main trio (Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura) to their compatriots, the Sand Siblings, the Legendary Sannin, the Amegakure Orphans...
** There are three exalted eye techniques in the ninja world: Byakugan, Sharingan, and Rinnegan. The Mangekyo Sharingan has three main techniques: Tsukuyomi, Amaterasu, and Susano'o. The Rinnegan has six (3+3) main paths, the leader of which, Deva Path, has three techniques at his disposal: Almighty Push, Universal Pull, and Planetary Devastation.
** Kurama has had three hosts throughout history: Mito Uzumaki, Kushina Uzumaki, and of course, Naruto Uzumaki. [[spoiler:In the Fourth Ninja World War arc, however, it's revealed that Minato Namikaze became host to Kurama's Yin half as a result of the Reaper Death Seal incident, despite being dead.]] Similarly, the Ten Tails has had three hosts: the Sage of the Six Paths, [[spoiler: Obito Uchiha, and Madara Uchiha]].
** Three Uchiha who don the mantle of Akatsuki: Itachi, Sasuke, and [[spoiler:Obito]].
** There is the three-man team that is ubiquitous in the ninja world, affecting everyone from the main trio (Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura) to their compatriots, the Sand Siblings, the Legendary Sannin, the Amegakure Orphans...
** There are three exalted eye techniques in the ninja world: Byakugan, Sharingan, and Rinnegan. The Mangekyo Sharingan has three main techniques: Tsukuyomi, Amaterasu, and Susano'o. The Rinnegan has six (3+3) main paths, the leader of which, Deva Path, has three techniques at his disposal: Almighty Push, Universal Pull, and Planetary Devastation.
** Kurama has had three hosts throughout history: Mito Uzumaki, Kushina Uzumaki, and of course, Naruto Uzumaki. [[spoiler:In the Fourth Ninja World War arc, however, it's revealed that Minato Namikaze became host to Kurama's Yin half as a result of the Reaper Death Seal incident, despite being dead.]] Similarly, the Ten Tails has had three hosts: the Sage of the Six Paths, [[spoiler: Obito Uchiha, and Madara Uchiha]].
** Three Uchiha who don the mantle of Akatsuki: Itachi, Sasuke, and [[spoiler:Obito]].
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Dewicking Anime/Pokemon, as the contents have been reorganized under Pokemon The Series.
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* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':
to:
* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'':
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* In ''Anime/YuGiOh'', there are three Legendary Dragons and three corresponding Legendary Heroes. We also have the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon and Cyber End Dragon, formed by fusing three of the same monsters into one. Egyptian God Monsters, of which there happen to be three, demand a sacrifice of three monsters to be summoned. There are also three levels of the Orichalcos: Seal of Orichalcos, Orichalcos Deuteros, and Orichalcos Tritos. There are three powerful magicians (Dark Magician, Dark Magician Girl, Magician of Black Chaos) that form a trio.
** And three Phantom Beasts. And three Wicked Gods. And the English manga was published as three series (Manga/YuGiOh for the first seven volumes, Manga/YuGiOh Duelist for Duelist Kingdom onward, and Manga/YuGiOh Millennium World, following the Duel City finals).
** And three Phantom Beasts. And three Wicked Gods. And the English manga was published as three series (Manga/YuGiOh for the first seven volumes, Manga/YuGiOh Duelist for Duelist Kingdom onward, and Manga/YuGiOh Millennium World, following the Duel City finals).
to:
* In ''Anime/YuGiOh'', there are three Legendary Dragons and three corresponding Legendary Heroes. We also have the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon and Cyber End Dragon, formed by fusing three of the same monsters into one. Egyptian God Monsters, of which there happen to be three, demand a sacrifice of three monsters to be summoned. summoned though this trope is subverted in this case with said 3 God monsters having their fusion form thus leading to 4. There are also three levels of the Orichalcos: Seal of Orichalcos, Orichalcos Deuteros, Deuteros and Orichalcos Tritos. There are three powerful magicians (Dark Magician, Dark Magician Girl, Magician of Black Chaos) that form a trio.
**And Subverted as though there seem to be three Phantom Beasts.Beasts, they have their fusion form. And three Wicked Gods. And the English manga was published as three series (Manga/YuGiOh for the first seven volumes, Manga/YuGiOh Duelist for Duelist Kingdom onward, and Manga/YuGiOh Millennium World, following the Duel City finals).
**
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** Trunks and Goten had to attempt performing a Fusion Dance three times in order to correctly obtain a powerful new form to fight Evil Buu.
*** Goku and Vegeta attempted this twice before [[Anime/DragonBallZFusionReborn facing Janemba]], but three times before [[Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly facing Broly]].
*** Goku and Vegeta attempted this twice before [[Anime/DragonBallZFusionReborn facing Janemba]], but three times before [[Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly facing Broly]].
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** Later during the Tournament of Power in Dragon Ball Super, it takes three times [[spoiler: for Goku to get a handle on, improve and eventually complete Ultra Instinct in episode 130.]] With that third time making the difference in allowing Goku to finally overcome Jiren’s overwhelming strength and render him beatable.
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%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order.
%%
%%%
The RuleOfThree in anime and manga.
----
* Big 3: A FanNickname about the three most popular manga from Weekly Shonen Jump.
----
* ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'' features a Goddess who plays the part of Mercury in the HonestAxe myth. The first time she makes the offering, it is a gold and silver harp to the man who she comes to love. The second time, it is an exceptionally sharp axe [[spoiler:to herself so she can break free from her spring]]. The third time, it is [[spoiler:a gold and silver bike to Keiichi who is on the verge of losing Belldandy in [[ItMakesSenseInContext a bike race against God]]]].
* Most of the skits in ''Manga/DailyLivesOfHighSchoolBoys'' rely on a triple repeat of the same joke or three jokes with the same theme.
** Three students slip on frozen puddles in one skit.
** Yoshitake's PaperThinDisguise as Karasawa by wearing a white cap works three times in the Kick The Can skit (twice on Mitsuo).
** Mitsuo makes three attempts to get a soccer ball past Hidenori during the Sure Kill Shot skit. [[spoiler:Third time ''is'' the charm in this case.]]
%%* This is all over the place in Anime/DigimonTamers.
* ''Manga/{{Dokuhime}}'' has triplet princes who were predicted to be the "perfect child, protecting child, and destroying child", the last one having a tell-tale birthmark (the king loved them so he marked the other 2 and raised them all the same). Sure enough, one is [[spoiler: posing as the deceased king]], another is [[spoiler: the poison tester]], and the 3rd [[spoiler: alone is a brilliant engineer but was so traumatized by seeing his father's death that he looks a lot younger and can't stop killing things]], but that hasn't yet proved anything. Despite being triplets they no longer look the same: the one who's [[spoiler: posing as the king]] [[YoungerThanTheyLook looks older]] while the one who [[spoiler: is traumatized and can't stop killing]] [[OlderThanTheyLook looks younger]].
* In ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', before King Kai (King Kaio) agrees to train someone, they must make him laugh with a joke. Tien performs the multiform technique to create 3 bodies just before shouting the punchline. Thus making his joke 3 times funnier.
* The 3 kids Maurice, Maeter, and Linck in ''Anime/EurekaSeven'', as well as the number of times Nirvash and [=TheEND=] fight each other.
* ''Manga/{{Eyeshield 21}}'' ends with 333 chapters. Many of the close friendships in the series are in groups of three.
* In ''Manga/FairyTail'', there are three true [[spoiler:Dragon Slayers]]: Natsu, Gajeel, and [[spoiler:Wendy]]. Also, there were three active S-Class mages in the guild: [[spoiler:Laxus, Erza, Mystogan]]. Then: [[spoiler:Erza, Mirajane and Mystogan]]. Later: [[spoiler:Erza, Mirajane, Gildartz]]. After the TimeSkip: [[spoiler:Erza, Mirajane, and Laxus]].
* In ''Manga/FushigiYuugi'', each priestess gets ThreeWishes. Miaka's evolve from entirely selfish to a combination of selfish and selfless, to entirely selfless over the course of the series as she plans out what to ask of Suzaku. [[spoiler: She only actually makes ''two'' wishes.]]
%%* Specifically invoked by Batou in ''Anime/GhostInTheShell 2: Innocence''.
* Rule Of Three is referenced in ''Manga/GoldenBoy'' by a couple of proverb-misquoting Yakuza members: "Even Buddha only waited three times."
* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'': The ''third'' [[spoiler:Endless Eight episode]] has Itsuki state that [[spoiler:"We have entered an endless recursion of time."]] three times in a row.
* Manga covers for ''Manga/HighschoolOfTheDead'', the main girls stars at each 3 volumes with no changes so far, the formula is one volume for Rei then Saeko and finally Saya, they are the only main characters to appear on covers.
* The ''Mazinger series'' used this trope continuously. Starting with the original TRILOGY:
** ''Anime/MazingerZ'': The eponymous HumongousMecha is a CombiningMecha formed by three parts: Mazinger-Z, the Hover Pilder and the Jet Scrander. The Photon Atomic Power Research Institute is protected by three HumongousMecha: Mazinger-Z, Aphrodite-A and Boss Borot. Throughout the series three {{FemBot}}s show up: Aphrodite A, Minerva-X and Diana-A. Prof. Yumi is aided by three scientists (Profs. Morimori, Sewashi and Nossori). The Boss' gang is formed by three members: Boss, Nuke and Mucha. Dr. Hell never had more than three CoDragons at once, and several times he sent three-mecha teams to take down his enemies (Aeros B1, B2 and B3; Megaron P1, P2 and P3). Baron Ashura kidnapped three workers of the Institute in one episode (Kasuya, Kata and Yokoi). A Mechanical Beast could split in three parts could act and attack independently...
** ''Anime/GreatMazinger'': The Fortress of Science is protected by three robots: Great Mazinger, Venus-A and Boss Borot. The BridgeBunnies are three. Prof. Kabuto had three sons [[spoiler:Tetsuya, Kouji and Shiro]]...
** ''Anime/UFORoboGrendizer'': Prof. Umon was assisted in the Lab by three BridgeBunnies (Hayashi, Yamada and Aoi). Makiba family was formed by three members: Hikaru, Danbei and Goro. Duke battle partners were Kouji, [[spoiler:Hikaru]] and [[spoiler:his sister Maria.]] Grendizer got three {{MidSeason Upgrade}}s: Double, Marine and Drill Spacer...
* Background material for the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' notes that standard mobile suit tactics for the Principality of Zeon involved squads of three Zakus. The Federation fudged this a bit for space battles, mimicking that with three [=GMs=] per squad, but with the addition of two Balls as support. This also comes up in many of the Universal Century series, where while the number of leading protagonists who pilot them will vary, it often ends up that there are three mobile suits among them (for instance from the original series, Amuro's Gundam, Kai's Guncannon, and Ryu and Hayato's Guntank).
* In the anime ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', First Impact happened before humanity existed, Second Impact in the last two decades, and the objective of [=NERV=] is to stop [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Third Impact]].
* ''Manga/OnePiece''
** There are three marine admirals: Akainu, Aojiki, and Kizaru.
** Three great powers: the Marines/World Government, the Shichibukai, and the Yonkou.
** The Monster Trio in the Strawhat crew consists of Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji.
* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':
** The anime always has three main characters (Ash and his two companions, one male, one female, with Hoenn being the exception due to Max tagging along, and Kalos with Bonnie being part of the group), plus the Team Rocket trio.
** According to ''LightNovel/PocketMonstersTheAnimation'', if a gym leader loses three times in a row they are forced to quit. This causes many gym leaders to bribe trainers in order to lose.
* LampshadeHanging: ''Manga/SgtFrog'' episode 9 has Moa blowing up Giroro and Keroro twice in a row. Then it happens a third time, and the [[LemonyNarrator narrator]] explains that this is due to the conventions of humor.
* In ''Anime/TransformersArmada'', the ultimate weapon, the Hydra Cannon, is made of three smaller uber-weapons, the Star Saber, Skyboom Shield, and Requiem Blaster. Each of these is itself made of three Mini-Cons.
* ''Manga/VampireGame'' has 3 princes who are [[spoiler: the 3 "adopted" sons of the king. Well, 2 were adopted and the 1st was illegitimate]].
* In ''Anime/YuGiOh'', there are three Legendary Dragons and three corresponding Legendary Heroes. We also have the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon and Cyber End Dragon, formed by fusing three of the same monsters into one. Egyptian God Monsters, of which there happen to be three, demand a sacrifice of three monsters to be summoned. There are also three levels of the Orichalcos: Seal of Orichalcos, Orichalcos Deuteros, and Orichalcos Tritos. There are three powerful magicians (Dark Magician, Dark Magician Girl, Magician of Black Chaos) that form a trio.
** And three Phantom Beasts. And three Wicked Gods. And the English manga was published as three series (Manga/YuGiOh for the first seven volumes, Manga/YuGiOh Duelist for Duelist Kingdom onward, and Manga/YuGiOh Millennium World, following the Duel City finals).
** ''[[Anime/YuGiOhGX GX]]'' even has three Kaiba {{exp|y}}ies.
** ''[[Anime/YuGiOhArcV ARC-V]]'' portrays the three Extra Deck summoning methods (Fusion, Synchro, and Xyz) with this dynamic, with each having its own dimension and specializing duelists. In-story, Pendulum Summon (which focuses on quickly amassing materials for the aforementioned methods) and the Standard Dimension (where all three co-exist without any of them being dominant over the others) act as bridges between them.
** ''[[Anime/YuGiOhVRAINS VRAINS]]'' has Yusaku Fujiki stating ''many'' things in threes ''very'' often. [[spoiler:It's because during the [[ColdBloodedTorture Lost]] [[ForScience Incident]] [[DarkAndTroubledPast ten years prior to the start of the series]], a voice told him to think of three things which saved him for succumbing to the hellish reality he was forced into and dying in a pit of deep despair.]]
** The same goes for quite a few regular cards. There were originally three Harpie Lady Sisters, three monsters that made up the Gate Guardian, three Machines that make up the XYZ-Dragon Cannon and of course, one of the biggest rules in the game is that you can have a maximum of three copies of a card in your deck (at least in most cases).
* In ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', there are three main worlds separated dimensionally: The human world, the spirit world, and the Makai world; the latter in turn has three major rulers: Mukuro, Yomi, and Raizen ([[spoiler: when the latter one dies, a tournament is run to decide who will rule all three worlds]]). Averted in the second movie, where it's revealed that there is actually a fourth world.
----
%%
%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order.
%%
%%%
The RuleOfThree in anime and manga.
----
* Big 3: A FanNickname about the three most popular manga from Weekly Shonen Jump.
----
* ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'' features a Goddess who plays the part of Mercury in the HonestAxe myth. The first time she makes the offering, it is a gold and silver harp to the man who she comes to love. The second time, it is an exceptionally sharp axe [[spoiler:to herself so she can break free from her spring]]. The third time, it is [[spoiler:a gold and silver bike to Keiichi who is on the verge of losing Belldandy in [[ItMakesSenseInContext a bike race against God]]]].
* Most of the skits in ''Manga/DailyLivesOfHighSchoolBoys'' rely on a triple repeat of the same joke or three jokes with the same theme.
** Three students slip on frozen puddles in one skit.
** Yoshitake's PaperThinDisguise as Karasawa by wearing a white cap works three times in the Kick The Can skit (twice on Mitsuo).
** Mitsuo makes three attempts to get a soccer ball past Hidenori during the Sure Kill Shot skit. [[spoiler:Third time ''is'' the charm in this case.]]
%%* This is all over the place in Anime/DigimonTamers.
* ''Manga/{{Dokuhime}}'' has triplet princes who were predicted to be the "perfect child, protecting child, and destroying child", the last one having a tell-tale birthmark (the king loved them so he marked the other 2 and raised them all the same). Sure enough, one is [[spoiler: posing as the deceased king]], another is [[spoiler: the poison tester]], and the 3rd [[spoiler: alone is a brilliant engineer but was so traumatized by seeing his father's death that he looks a lot younger and can't stop killing things]], but that hasn't yet proved anything. Despite being triplets they no longer look the same: the one who's [[spoiler: posing as the king]] [[YoungerThanTheyLook looks older]] while the one who [[spoiler: is traumatized and can't stop killing]] [[OlderThanTheyLook looks younger]].
* In ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', before King Kai (King Kaio) agrees to train someone, they must make him laugh with a joke. Tien performs the multiform technique to create 3 bodies just before shouting the punchline. Thus making his joke 3 times funnier.
* The 3 kids Maurice, Maeter, and Linck in ''Anime/EurekaSeven'', as well as the number of times Nirvash and [=TheEND=] fight each other.
* ''Manga/{{Eyeshield 21}}'' ends with 333 chapters. Many of the close friendships in the series are in groups of three.
* In ''Manga/FairyTail'', there are three true [[spoiler:Dragon Slayers]]: Natsu, Gajeel, and [[spoiler:Wendy]]. Also, there were three active S-Class mages in the guild: [[spoiler:Laxus, Erza, Mystogan]]. Then: [[spoiler:Erza, Mirajane and Mystogan]]. Later: [[spoiler:Erza, Mirajane, Gildartz]]. After the TimeSkip: [[spoiler:Erza, Mirajane, and Laxus]].
* In ''Manga/FushigiYuugi'', each priestess gets ThreeWishes. Miaka's evolve from entirely selfish to a combination of selfish and selfless, to entirely selfless over the course of the series as she plans out what to ask of Suzaku. [[spoiler: She only actually makes ''two'' wishes.]]
%%* Specifically invoked by Batou in ''Anime/GhostInTheShell 2: Innocence''.
* Rule Of Three is referenced in ''Manga/GoldenBoy'' by a couple of proverb-misquoting Yakuza members: "Even Buddha only waited three times."
* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'': The ''third'' [[spoiler:Endless Eight episode]] has Itsuki state that [[spoiler:"We have entered an endless recursion of time."]] three times in a row.
* Manga covers for ''Manga/HighschoolOfTheDead'', the main girls stars at each 3 volumes with no changes so far, the formula is one volume for Rei then Saeko and finally Saya, they are the only main characters to appear on covers.
* The ''Mazinger series'' used this trope continuously. Starting with the original TRILOGY:
** ''Anime/MazingerZ'': The eponymous HumongousMecha is a CombiningMecha formed by three parts: Mazinger-Z, the Hover Pilder and the Jet Scrander. The Photon Atomic Power Research Institute is protected by three HumongousMecha: Mazinger-Z, Aphrodite-A and Boss Borot. Throughout the series three {{FemBot}}s show up: Aphrodite A, Minerva-X and Diana-A. Prof. Yumi is aided by three scientists (Profs. Morimori, Sewashi and Nossori). The Boss' gang is formed by three members: Boss, Nuke and Mucha. Dr. Hell never had more than three CoDragons at once, and several times he sent three-mecha teams to take down his enemies (Aeros B1, B2 and B3; Megaron P1, P2 and P3). Baron Ashura kidnapped three workers of the Institute in one episode (Kasuya, Kata and Yokoi). A Mechanical Beast could split in three parts could act and attack independently...
** ''Anime/GreatMazinger'': The Fortress of Science is protected by three robots: Great Mazinger, Venus-A and Boss Borot. The BridgeBunnies are three. Prof. Kabuto had three sons [[spoiler:Tetsuya, Kouji and Shiro]]...
** ''Anime/UFORoboGrendizer'': Prof. Umon was assisted in the Lab by three BridgeBunnies (Hayashi, Yamada and Aoi). Makiba family was formed by three members: Hikaru, Danbei and Goro. Duke battle partners were Kouji, [[spoiler:Hikaru]] and [[spoiler:his sister Maria.]] Grendizer got three {{MidSeason Upgrade}}s: Double, Marine and Drill Spacer...
* Background material for the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' notes that standard mobile suit tactics for the Principality of Zeon involved squads of three Zakus. The Federation fudged this a bit for space battles, mimicking that with three [=GMs=] per squad, but with the addition of two Balls as support. This also comes up in many of the Universal Century series, where while the number of leading protagonists who pilot them will vary, it often ends up that there are three mobile suits among them (for instance from the original series, Amuro's Gundam, Kai's Guncannon, and Ryu and Hayato's Guntank).
* In the anime ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', First Impact happened before humanity existed, Second Impact in the last two decades, and the objective of [=NERV=] is to stop [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Third Impact]].
* ''Manga/OnePiece''
** There are three marine admirals: Akainu, Aojiki, and Kizaru.
** Three great powers: the Marines/World Government, the Shichibukai, and the Yonkou.
** The Monster Trio in the Strawhat crew consists of Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji.
* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':
** The anime always has three main characters (Ash and his two companions, one male, one female, with Hoenn being the exception due to Max tagging along, and Kalos with Bonnie being part of the group), plus the Team Rocket trio.
** According to ''LightNovel/PocketMonstersTheAnimation'', if a gym leader loses three times in a row they are forced to quit. This causes many gym leaders to bribe trainers in order to lose.
* LampshadeHanging: ''Manga/SgtFrog'' episode 9 has Moa blowing up Giroro and Keroro twice in a row. Then it happens a third time, and the [[LemonyNarrator narrator]] explains that this is due to the conventions of humor.
* In ''Anime/TransformersArmada'', the ultimate weapon, the Hydra Cannon, is made of three smaller uber-weapons, the Star Saber, Skyboom Shield, and Requiem Blaster. Each of these is itself made of three Mini-Cons.
* ''Manga/VampireGame'' has 3 princes who are [[spoiler: the 3 "adopted" sons of the king. Well, 2 were adopted and the 1st was illegitimate]].
* In ''Anime/YuGiOh'', there are three Legendary Dragons and three corresponding Legendary Heroes. We also have the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon and Cyber End Dragon, formed by fusing three of the same monsters into one. Egyptian God Monsters, of which there happen to be three, demand a sacrifice of three monsters to be summoned. There are also three levels of the Orichalcos: Seal of Orichalcos, Orichalcos Deuteros, and Orichalcos Tritos. There are three powerful magicians (Dark Magician, Dark Magician Girl, Magician of Black Chaos) that form a trio.
** And three Phantom Beasts. And three Wicked Gods. And the English manga was published as three series (Manga/YuGiOh for the first seven volumes, Manga/YuGiOh Duelist for Duelist Kingdom onward, and Manga/YuGiOh Millennium World, following the Duel City finals).
** ''[[Anime/YuGiOhGX GX]]'' even has three Kaiba {{exp|y}}ies.
** ''[[Anime/YuGiOhArcV ARC-V]]'' portrays the three Extra Deck summoning methods (Fusion, Synchro, and Xyz) with this dynamic, with each having its own dimension and specializing duelists. In-story, Pendulum Summon (which focuses on quickly amassing materials for the aforementioned methods) and the Standard Dimension (where all three co-exist without any of them being dominant over the others) act as bridges between them.
** ''[[Anime/YuGiOhVRAINS VRAINS]]'' has Yusaku Fujiki stating ''many'' things in threes ''very'' often. [[spoiler:It's because during the [[ColdBloodedTorture Lost]] [[ForScience Incident]] [[DarkAndTroubledPast ten years prior to the start of the series]], a voice told him to think of three things which saved him for succumbing to the hellish reality he was forced into and dying in a pit of deep despair.]]
** The same goes for quite a few regular cards. There were originally three Harpie Lady Sisters, three monsters that made up the Gate Guardian, three Machines that make up the XYZ-Dragon Cannon and of course, one of the biggest rules in the game is that you can have a maximum of three copies of a card in your deck (at least in most cases).
* In ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', there are three main worlds separated dimensionally: The human world, the spirit world, and the Makai world; the latter in turn has three major rulers: Mukuro, Yomi, and Raizen ([[spoiler: when the latter one dies, a tournament is run to decide who will rule all three worlds]]). Averted in the second movie, where it's revealed that there is actually a fourth world.
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